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Tryon church has rich history

Education key in Good Shepherd Episcopal’s legacy

Good Shepherd Episcopal Church in Tryon started out as a chapel at Green River Plantation.

Patrick Sullivan / Times-News

By Gina MaloneTimes-News Correspondent

Published: Saturday, November 16, 2013 at 4:30 a.m.

Last Modified: Friday, November 15, 2013 at 4:40 p.m.

TRYON — More than half a century ago, there was an abandoned chapel without a congregation near the Green River Plantation and a congregation without a church in Tryon’s historic Eastside neighborhood.

The marriage of these two churches, St. Andrew’s Chapel and Good Shepherd Episcopal Church, resulted in a story of historic preservation that Good Shepherd’s rector, the Rev. Walter Bryan, said is still important to him today.

“My focus,” he said with a smile, “is to fight modernization.”

The chapel’s inner walls are the original unpainted boards from when the structure was built across the road from Green River Plantation around 1906. Mary Mills Coxe reportedly had it built for “colored servants and others,” some of whom may have descended from slaves in the area.

When the Diocese of Western North Carolina approved it being moved to Tryon in 1955, it had to be cut into four pieces and driven about 20 miles, from out in the county near the Rutherford county line into downtown Tryon.

“That was a big day on the highway and in the community,” said Beryl Dade, whose own history coincides with that of the church from its earliest days as a school for African-American children.

The church was driven along the Eastside’s narrow, winding roads to a site on Markham Road left vacant when the old structure, which was built around 1907 as a mission school and had deteriorated, was torn down.

The handmade pews, altar rail and stained glass windows are all original. A vestibule was added to the front of the church, and there have been additions to the back over the years, including a parish hall, bathrooms and classrooms.

There is, of course, now electricity for the lights and ceiling fans that were added. Other than that, the building retains a primitive charm.

“We try our best to keep it that way,” said Bryan, who grew up in Tryon and came to the church in 2003 after it became a full parish.

Born into the church and with a family history that goes back even further, Dade acts as historian for the church and continues its educational mission. “Good Shepherd has always had an educational connection,” she said.

Mabel Plaisted, a Tryon woman who moved from Maine, established the first local school for African-American children in the 1890s. Later Edmund Embury, a member of Holy Cross Episcopal Church in Tryon, donated land, the site of the present-day church, and a building.

When it began as a mission school — Tryon Industrial Colored School — Dade’s grandfather, Scotland Harris, was its first teacher, aided by his wife, Mary.

By 1907, there were 100 African-American boys and girls there studying carpentry, masonry, cooking and sewing, along with English and math. Harris taught and acted as principal for 11 years, long enough that he began to be called “Professor Harris,” Dade said.

In 1908 the building was officially became a missionary chapel of the Episcopal Missionary District of Asheville (Diocese of Western North Carolina).

A conflict arose when Harris was invited to a service at Tryon’s Holy Cross Episcopal Church. Harris’ presence among the white congregation prompted the diocese to ask him to leave his teaching position at the mission school, Dade said. It was mentioned also, she said, that his “stately home” in the Eastside gave African-Americans the wrong idea about what they might aspire toward.

The next phase of the church’s history as an educational institution in the community was the “Radway Years,” as Dade calls them.

Beginning in 1922, the Rev. Samuel Radway from Florida ran it as a boarding and day school, providing religious services as well. When he died in 1935, his widow and daughter kept it running another year until African-American students were allowed into the public school system.

Members of the church still used the building for worship. As a missionary church, it was subsidized by the diocese. In the early 1940s, it served students once again for a few years after the public school building burned.

Dade’s mother, Helen Harris Hannon, the daughter of Scotland and Mary Harris, meanwhile became a teacher herself, and in 1967 opened a kindergarten at Good Shepherd, as there was not yet one in the public school system.

Like her mother and grandparents before her, Dade too became a teacher for many years in Ohio and New Jersey, and briefly, after her initial retirement, in Polk County schools.

Good Shepherd was also instrumental in bringing the Reading Is Fundamental program to the area. Community involvement with RIF began with Sarah Shields and women of the church in 1978, and today the Polk County school system handles distribution of books to students.

In 1995, Dade opened Good Shepherd’s Homework Center, an after-school program to help area children with homework. Establishing such a program entailed meetings with school officials, grant writing, and the gathering of materials, donations and volunteers. A downsized version of the program continues to operate today, with tutors helping students dropped off at the church by the school bus in the afternoons.

Having evolved with the times, today the church that once housed an African-American congregation has members “from many different ethnic backgrounds, of differing ages and from all corners of the world,” as stated on the church website.

Some writings on the church refer to a “sweet spirit” that newcomers feel upon entering the rustic building with more than a century of the history of two churches within its walls.

<p>TRYON — More than half a century ago, there was an abandoned chapel without a congregation near the Green River Plantation and a congregation without a church in Tryon's historic Eastside neighborhood.</p><p>The marriage of these two churches, St. Andrew's Chapel and Good Shepherd Episcopal Church, resulted in a story of historic preservation that Good Shepherd's rector, the Rev. Walter Bryan, said is still important to him today.</p><p>“My focus,” he said with a smile, “is to fight modernization.”</p><p>The chapel's inner walls are the original unpainted boards from when the structure was built across the road from Green River Plantation around 1906. Mary Mills Coxe reportedly had it built for “colored servants and others,” some of whom may have descended from slaves in the area.</p><p>When the Diocese of Western North Carolina approved it being moved to Tryon in 1955, it had to be cut into four pieces and driven about 20 miles, from out in the county near the Rutherford county line into downtown Tryon.</p><p>“That was a big day on the highway and in the community,” said Beryl Dade, whose own history coincides with that of the church from its earliest days as a school for African-American children.</p><p>The church was driven along the Eastside's narrow, winding roads to a site on Markham Road left vacant when the old structure, which was built around 1907 as a mission school and had deteriorated, was torn down.</p><p>The handmade pews, altar rail and stained glass windows are all original. A vestibule was added to the front of the church, and there have been additions to the back over the years, including a parish hall, bathrooms and classrooms.</p><p>There is, of course, now electricity for the lights and ceiling fans that were added. Other than that, the building retains a primitive charm.</p><p>“We try our best to keep it that way,” said Bryan, who grew up in Tryon and came to the church in 2003 after it became a full parish.</p><p>Born into the church and with a family history that goes back even further, Dade acts as historian for the church and continues its educational mission. “Good Shepherd has always had an educational connection,” she said.</p><p>Mabel Plaisted, a Tryon woman who moved from Maine, established the first local school for African-American children in the 1890s. Later Edmund Embury, a member of Holy Cross Episcopal Church in Tryon, donated land, the site of the present-day church, and a building.</p><p>When it began as a mission school — Tryon Industrial Colored School — Dade's grandfather, Scotland Harris, was its first teacher, aided by his wife, Mary.</p><p>By 1907, there were 100 African-American boys and girls there studying carpentry, masonry, cooking and sewing, along with English and math. Harris taught and acted as principal for 11 years, long enough that he began to be called “Professor Harris,” Dade said.</p><p>In 1908 the building was officially became a missionary chapel of the Episcopal Missionary District of Asheville (Diocese of Western North Carolina).</p><p>A conflict arose when Harris was invited to a service at Tryon's Holy Cross Episcopal Church. Harris' presence among the white congregation prompted the diocese to ask him to leave his teaching position at the mission school, Dade said. It was mentioned also, she said, that his “stately home” in the Eastside gave African-Americans the wrong idea about what they might aspire toward.</p><p>The next phase of the church's history as an educational institution in the community was the “Radway Years,” as Dade calls them.</p><p>Beginning in 1922, the Rev. Samuel Radway from Florida ran it as a boarding and day school, providing religious services as well. When he died in 1935, his widow and daughter kept it running another year until African-American students were allowed into the public school system.</p><p>Members of the church still used the building for worship. As a missionary church, it was subsidized by the diocese. In the early 1940s, it served students once again for a few years after the public school building burned.</p><p>Dade's mother, Helen Harris Hannon, the daughter of Scotland and Mary Harris, meanwhile became a teacher herself, and in 1967 opened a kindergarten at Good Shepherd, as there was not yet one in the public school system.</p><p>Like her mother and grandparents before her, Dade too became a teacher for many years in Ohio and New Jersey, and briefly, after her initial retirement, in Polk County schools.</p><p>Good Shepherd was also instrumental in bringing the Reading Is Fundamental program to the area. Community involvement with RIF began with Sarah Shields and women of the church in 1978, and today the Polk County school system handles distribution of books to students.</p><p>In 1995, Dade opened Good Shepherd's Homework Center, an after-school program to help area children with homework. Establishing such a program entailed meetings with school officials, grant writing, and the gathering of materials, donations and volunteers. A downsized version of the program continues to operate today, with tutors helping students dropped off at the church by the school bus in the afternoons.</p><p>Having evolved with the times, today the church that once housed an African-American congregation has members “from many different ethnic backgrounds, of differing ages and from all corners of the world,” as stated on the church website.</p><p>Some writings on the church refer to a “sweet spirit” that newcomers feel upon entering the rustic building with more than a century of the history of two churches within its walls.</p>